The upcoming lame duck session is the last opportunity for the Republicans to do real damage to the working people of the US. One danger spot is the H1-B visa situation.
At this point, 125,000 persons / year are allowed to come into this country and take high-tech jobs that are "unwanted" by Americans. Actually, this shortage is just a made-up problem. What the management in the high-tech area are looking for a huge oversupply of labor to keep salaries down.
There are two bills. The SKIL bill increases the H1-B and EB visa limits very greatly. In some versions, there is an AUTOMATIC escalator, which will result in the increase in such visas every year. On the other hand, Bill Pascrell has written a bill, The Defend the American Dream Act, H.R. 4378, which further limits and restricts H1-B visas. This is a far superior bill, and is supported by unions, Democrats and progressives.
The Pascrell bill has the following provisions:
i. Requires employers of H-1B non immigrants to use one of three specified methods (whichever results in higher wages) to determine wages for purposes of required wage attestations.
ii. Requires that employers actively recruit American workers and make copies of labor application available to public 30 days ahead of filing.
iii. Prohibits employers from placing, outsourcing, leasing or otherwise contracting for the placement of an H-1B nonimmigrant with another employer.
iv. Creates a private right of action for persons harmed by an employer's violation of labor condition requirements.
The Programmers Guild calls on Congress to protect the constitutional interests that U.S. workers have not to be displaced from their chosen profession by an unjust H-1B program that has no due process remedy when they are harmed by the visas that DOL approves.
On the other side, the AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) is very interested in increasing the number of immigrants, since they make money from immigrants and by getting high-tech jobs to non-citizens. Here is the misleading propaganda from the AILA. I present this press release, not to support it, but to highlight the crap and misleading stuff from the other side:
American businesses are facing a serious crisis: an unprecedented sixteen-month restriction on access to new H-1B visas for temporary professional employees, coupled with an ever-present, continually growing, and now crippling employment-based (EB) green card backlog for permanent hires. I urge you to take immediate steps to fix this problem in the lame duck session after the November elections.
The "evidence" here is almost all just fantasy. There is, on the other hand, the evidence of thousands of high-tech workers who cannot find gainful employment.
The lame duck session offers the last chance this year to provide American businesses the relief they urgently need to remain afloat and retain their competitive edge over companies around the world. Only by permanently increasing the H-1B and EB cap numbers, as the SKIL Bill introduced in both the House (H.R. 5744) and Senate (S. 2691) proposes, and as was also passed in the Senate as part of its Comprehensive Immigration Reform package (S. 2611), can American businesses continue to function.
Again, the apocryphal language! Yep, without thousands of foreign workers, we're doomed!!
The H-1B and EB visa programs are vital tools necessary to keep the U.S. economy competitive in the world market and to keep jobs in America. Far from harming U.S. workers and the U.S. economy, highly educated foreign professionals benefit our country by allowing U.S. employers to develop new products, undertake groundbreaking research, implement new projects, expand operations, create additional new jobs, and compete in the global marketplace. As President Bush has remarked, if these professionals are not permitted to come to the U.S. to share their expertise, they will go to other countries and benefit companies abroad instead. The end result will be American jobs lost and American projects losing out to foreign competition, with devastating long-term consequences for the U.S. economy.
What garbage!!! These high-tech workers can't find work in their own countries in many cases, so they come here to undercut our own wage scales.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the FY 2007 numerical cap limiting the H-1B program for workers was reached on May 26, 2006, four months before the start of the fiscal year. This means that U.S. companies are being denied access to topflight global talent for over 16 months, disrupting--if not destroying--crucial research and development projects in critical industries. It will also retard technological innovation and undermine our ability to create and sustain domestic employment opportunities.
Yes, they are denied access to foreign talent. What a concept - they might need to hire an American...
A similar crisis is occurring with EB green cards. Backlogs have resulted for individuals coming from high-demand countries, even when the overall cap has not been reached and regardless of the fact that these high-demand countries are often the only source of individuals capable of filling high-skilled jobs American businesses need. Those caught in the backlog are forced to spend up to seven years waiting, unable to become true stakeholders in our country, putting their lives on hold in the hopes that a green card will eventually become available to them. Not surprisingly, these talented professionals often tire of waiting and leave the U.S. to put their knowledge and skills to use in other countries eager to compete with and surpass the U.S.
What we actually need is a reform in the processing of current citizens, so that their wives and children can be allowed in to the US.
Every day that passes without access to these high-skilled workers is a lost opportunity for growth, productivity, and innovation. But this need not be the case.
By passing legislation that provides H-1B and EB green card backlog relief, you will be showing your support for enabling the best and brightest from around the globe to contribute their skills and knowledge to the U.S. economy, which is good for American workers, American businesses, and our long-term economic health.
Thousands of high-tech jobs have been lost. If we don't act forcefully, thousands more will be lost.
Please contact your congressperson and urge opposition to House (H.R. 5744) and Senate (S. 2691), and urge support to the Defend the American Dream Act, H.R. 4378.